Prepared to cut

For the past two years, students in Texas A&M's current student body were focused on getting into college, transferring into A&M or simply keeping grades up. During this same period, University administration prepared for sizable state budget cuts, which the Texas legislature enacted during a special session in Austin this summer.

Preparation for these cuts was a multi-year ordeal, but University President R. Bowen Loftin said the early work accomplished its goal.

"For more than a year we have worked hard to prepare for a projected decline in state appropriations resulting from reduced state revenues," Loftin wrote in a July 15 campus memo. "While this process was painful for all of us, I can now say with certainty that we planned accordingly for these difficult budgetary times."

According to the memo, the University prepared for $39 million in reductions, an accurate projection of the total impact of appropriation reductions.

Sen. Steve Ogden, chair of the State Senate Finance Committee, said the legislature recognized the need to cut spending long before the most recent legislative session convened in January. The Bryan-College Station legislator added that A&M adjusted for these cuts in such a way that students shouldn't notice much of a difference.

According to Ogden, state cuts to higher education institutions averaged around seven percent. Roughly 25 percent of A&M's funding comes from the state.

"What you should expect to see is that spending will be down 2-3 percent for the current year," Ogden said.

According to B.J. Crain, vice president of finance for A&M, the process of identifying more efficient ways of allocating funds and cost-saving methods began in the summer of 2009. For the past two years, Crain said, University and System administration acted to minimize the effect on students by reducing spending and expanding bulk purchasing programs for items such as computers, supplies and copiers.

In January 2010,  Loftin asked college deans and department heads to prepare for the cuts, requiring proposals that identified internal reductions proportionate to the anticipated  state reductions. Through these working groups, A&M began to prepare for what Loftin called a "worst-case scenario."

"Texas A&M began planning through Vice Presidents and Deans for a $60 million budget reduction/reallocation to be implemented September 1, 2011. Of this amount, $39 million would be set-aside for a potential state reduction and $21 million would be used to fund high-priority needs across campus," Crain said in a written statement.  

While the budget was being debated in the legislature, many student groups and administrators lobbied for minimal cuts to higher education. The Student Senate voted unanimously in consecutive sessions to oppose higher education budget cuts.

"A&M is worth the investment for the state of Texas," said Tanner Wilson, speaker of the student senate. "We're frustrated that higher education was the first thing on the chopping block."

Cuts to higher education were originally set at as high as 20 percent, according to State Rep. Dan Branch, chair of the House Committee on Higher Education. Reduction levels were lowered during the regular and special legislative sessions. Branch said he believes there are two sides to how these cuts will affect higher education in Texas.

"The good is the innovation and reinvention, in part allowed by digitalization, of higher education," Branch said. "[However],these budget cuts will cause pain — less money will cause the need for hard decisions to be made."

Among the hard decisions were personnel reductions. In July 2010, the University laid off 66 university employees, mostly from the physical plant. Most colleges also froze hiring, leaving many faculty and staff positions unfilled.

Many students felt the effects when registering for classes, with fewer class offerings and larger class sizes.

Correction: Jordan Williford authored this article. The Aug. 29 print article included an incorrect credit.